Industry chamber Assocham today raised concerns over delay in 15 major infrastructure central projects in last three years saying such delays could further fuel inflation in the coming months.
The 15 different sectors, include railways, highways, petroleum, telecom, urban development and civil aviation.
Land acquisition, delayed environmental clearances and fund constraints are prime reasons for the overruns in projects worth Rs 150 crore each, the chamber said.
Delays pile up supply side constraints, leading to expected demand not being matched and pushing inflation to higher levels, it said.
"This is disturbing as the Prime Minister has consistently advocated creation of world-class infrastructure projects to boost economic growth and spread overall prosperity," Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.
The recent project implementation report, prepared by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, shows that the delay in the projects has steadily grew from about 34% of the total projects in March 2007 to over 53% during December 2010.
As a result, central sector projects which are facing cost overruns have also increased. According to the report, the cost overruns of central sector projects increased from about 12% in 2007-08 to about 21% till December 2010.
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